How to Use A Bullet Journal for the Best Self-Care Routine

My love for my Bullet Journal is no secret. In fact, most of you probably don’t even know that I have a second Instagram account dedicated JUST to my BuJo (insert judging eyes here). But really, I have no shame, because one of my favourite things to on a Sunday afternoon is to sit at my desk and work on my Bullet Journal.

My BuJo combines my (slightly obsessive) need to organize and make lists (and then lists of lists… I kid you not!) with my creative side. I love it so much and I’m constantly looking for new ideas to add to my journal that help me in my day-to-day life.

Most importantly, my Bullet Journal helps me in my self-care routine in many different ways. The process of sitting and doing a weekly spread or lists and doodles is relaxing to me. I also use my Bullet Journal as a tool to help me organize and improve my self-care routine.

[bctt tweet=”Use your Bullet Journal to create the most effective self-care routine!” username=”seppyforlove”]

For example, at the beginning of every month, I set my goals and prepare a habit tracker and emotions tracker. This helps me stay on track during the month to make sure that I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing to take care of my mind and body. This also helps me stay consistent on the goals that I set for myself at the beginning of the year while also giving me a way to track my progress and how I’m doing physically and emotionally.

Why am I bringing all this up? Part of me wants to show off my Bullet Journal skills (for those of you who know me, I’m actually quite shy about promoting myself so I’m saying this with a hint of sarcasm. I use humour to diffuse my discomfort. HA!). But mainly I want to show you the many uses and benefits of a Bullet Journal in your self-care routine so that you can get some inspiration.

Now, why a Bullet Journal? Well, it doesn’t HAVE to be an actual bullet journal. It can be any journal/notebook, as long as you’re tracking some key elements and creating a method that works for YOU. Not everyone likes to spend over an hour coming up with a new layout, choosing which colours and stickers to use, or figure out what doodles and decorations to add to their page.

The Bullet Journal system is something that I use and that I’m addicted to and because it works for me, I want to share it with you. But at the end of the day, what I hope you take out of this post is to figure out what works for YOU! Maybe you prefer tracking your progress in an app. That’s okay! Make it a system that works so that you stick to it in the long-term.

Without further ado, let’s get into it. Here are the ways that my Bullet Journal help me in my self-care routine:

Track habits

Habits can be difficult to develop, especially when you are trying to incorporate something drastically different into your routine. But habits are an important part of self-care because once you figure out which habits have the biggest positive impact, then you have to stick to them consistently so to see the long-term benefits.

[bctt tweet=”Cultivate habits that have the biggest positive impact on your well-being” username=”seppyforlove”]

I have a monthly habit tracker in my Bullet Journal where I include habits that I want to maintain like deep breathing throughout the day, practicing mindful eating. I also include habits related to taking care of my body by going to the gym or doing yoga at least once a week.

I look at my habit tracker almost every day to write down what habit I maintained that day and which ones I didn’t. This gives me insight into what I need to remember the next day.

By tracking your habits every day, you are taking time to assess how you did while also setting a mental reminder for yourself for the next day of the habits that you forgot. This is how can set yourself up for success because you will be able to adjust your schedule and your approach to figure out what you can do differently to ensure that you maintain your habits more consistently.

For example, if you want to get into the habit of drinking water when you wake up in the morning and you notice that it’s been three days that you have forgotten, then you can prepare yourself better by preparing a glass of water on the kitchen counter. This will make it easier for you to drink water in the morning because you are eliminating the preparation step while putting the glass somewhere accessible where you will see it when you wake up.

Building healthy habits takes time but by determining which habits you want to cultivate in your life and then assessing your progress so that you can improve your approach are be crucial steps in your self-care routine.

Track emotions

Tracking my emotions is part of my self-care routine because feeling positive emotions on a consistent basis will create a positive mindset so that you have the emotional and physical energy to create the life that you want.

Emotions are the foundation of how you feel on a daily basis and will therefore determine how much energy you have to dedicate on working on what matters in life, like your goals. The same way I’m trying build habits, I also want to consistently remind myself of the positive emotions I want to feel on a daily basis.

[bctt tweet=”Cultivate emotions that will make you feel happy and inspired every day” username=”seppyforlove”]

For example, I want to feel more positive and grateful every day. It’s easy to get caught up in a mundane routine and start feeling down and frustrated with the status quo that I’m trying to change. But having a constant reminder in my Bullet Journal emotions tracker helps me remember throughout the day the emotions I want to feel more often.

Tracking my emotions in my Bullet Journal also helps me reflect on a daily basis how I was feeling so that I can adjust the next day. This helps slow down time because I’m reflecting every single day, taking in how the day went, how I felt, how I reacted to situations.

Set goals

Setting goals is probably the most crucial part of my self-care routine because this is how I make sure that I am consistently working on achieving my goals and dreams.

At the beginning of the year, I do a goal-setting workshop where I set the goals for the year and then every month, I go over those goals and determine what steps I will take this month towards those big goals. This allows to review my yearly goals on a consistent basis to make sure that I’m on track to achieving them.

[bctt tweet=”#DreamBig and set goals that make you feel EXCITED to jump out of bed in the morning!” username=”seppyforlove”]

I love keeping track of my monthly goals in my Bullet Journal because I can look back at the previous month to see how far I’ve come and what goals I’ve been able to achieve. But more importantly, I can figure out why I wasn’t able to achieve the goals that I set for the month.

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The emotions and habit tracker come in handy here because it can help analyze. I will be able to see which habits I didn’t maintain that might have affected the outcome, while my emotions can be an indicator of my energy level for the month.

On the other hand, if I see that maintaining a particular habit helped my self-care for the month in helping me feel better and have more energy and feel more inspired, which in turn is the drive that I need to work on my goals then I know that for the next month, I need to maintain those habits to make sure that I continue on the right track towards achieving those goals by the end of the year.

Memories

I’m so happy that I’ve been writing down my memories every month this year. This is a wonderful and easy self-care tip because when I look back at some memories, I remember some really precious moments that I wouldn’t necessarily have remembered. And that’s what life is about. The small meaningful moments spent by yourself or with your loved or that you share with a stranger are what life is made of and what we have to remind ourselves.

[bctt tweet=”Life is about creating meaningful moments with your loved ones” username=”seppyforlove”]

Taking time to write down happy memories is part of my self-care routine. Like I said before, self-care is about creating a positive, inspiring and encouraging environment so that you can be happy, healthy and empowered. Reminding yourself of good memories will help cultivate those positive thoughts and mindset.

Gratitude

I’ve already talked about the importance of practicing gratitude on a daily basis to create a positive, healthy and inspiring mindset.

Not only is ‘gratitude’ a habit that I’m trying to cultivate, but it’s also part of my Bullet Journal as a separate entry where I write what I’m grateful for. I’ll include the basics like being grateful for a meal or for my comfortable bed, to things like having a steady income (even though I’m not crazy about my job) or time spent with family and a particular friendship that gives me a lot of love and support.

Like the memories, I love being able to look back at my gratitude journal, especially when I’m feeling down or frustrated, it’s important to remind myself of the blessings in my life so that I’m not focusing on what I don’t have but rather on what I DO have and what I can continue to create and cultivate in my life.

Self-Love Lesson

Establish a consistent self-care routine to see the long-term impact it can have on your body and mind. Whether you use a Bullet Journal to create an effective self-care routine, take time to invest in your well-being, whichever way you choose!

Do you use a Bullet Journal? How do you use it for your self-care routine?

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